


Haircut

by Joels_revolver



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25655785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joels_revolver/pseuds/Joels_revolver
Summary: Ellie gives Joel a much needed haircut.
Relationships: Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 179





	Haircut

Ellie watches as Joel runs his hand through his hair for the upteenth time in another unseccessful attempt at keeping it out of his eyes. He bows down to grip one end of the wooden beam lying at their feet and his hair immediately falls down again. Joel’s ever present scowl deepens even further, not that he would ever complain out loud about it, stoic idiot.

“Alright, ready?” he asks and Ellie takes her place at the other end of the beam. She tries not to look up, she really does, but her eyes wander upward to the line where Joel’s hair grazes his forehead and, God, her hand actually twitches with the itch to scratch at her own brow in sympathy.

“Yeah.”

“Here we go, lift!”

They raise the beam, setting it on the two already in the ground. Joel takes hammer and nails and sets on tacking everything down.

The last storm had damaged the paddock and Joel, as a former carpenter, had been the first choice for a repairman. Ellie had volunteered mostly to have something to do, since she hasn’t been cleared for patrols yet. She strongly suspects she has Joel to thank for that. She’s talked to Tommy about it, but he had been unmoveable, saying she was too young. Ellie thinks that’s a lot of bullshit. After having spent nearly a year on the road, killing infected, hunters and one memorable winter, even cannibals, she had plenty of experience. But that evidently hadn’t been enough of a compelling argument, which is why she finds herself here, reduced to fence duty and trying not to reach for the saw and relieve Joel of his hair.

“And that’s that,” Joel says, raising his hand to-

“For fuck’s sake Joel, just cut it off already!”

“Excuse me?”

Okay, maybe that wasn’t quite the way to break it to him.

“Your hair. It’s obviously driving you crazy and that’s driving me crazy so just… cut it off.”

Joel sighs. “And who do you suggest might I ask to do that?”

“Maria?”

“Ah, no. I’m not letting that woman anywhere near me with scissors in her hands.” He slings his backpack over his shoulders and starts his way home, Ellie right on his heels.

“Well, It’s either that or tying your hair in a bun.”

“You know, I actually prefer the bun.”

For a second Ellie actually entertains the idea, a mental image taking shape of Joel with his hair pulled back and tied to a-

Oh no. No, no, no, no. Joel _cannot_ have a bun.

“Er, I think short is more your thing.”

“What, you don’t think I can pull off a bun?” Joel asks with a lopsided smile in her direction.

“How about we leave the fancy hairstyles to Tommy.”

“Fair enough. But whoever is gonna cut my hair, it sure as hell ain’t gonna be Maria.”

“Oh, come on, Joel. Maria is not that scary.”

“To you she ain’t, but somehow she can't seem to forget that I tried to send her husband off to his death. With her I’ll probably end up being half bald.”

“Ugh, you’re so dramatic.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Ellie sees how Joel wipes his hair out of his eyes _yet again,_ and-

_Oh, fuck me._

“Fine,” she says, “I’ll do it.”

Joel throws her a very doubtful look. “Really?”

“Are you doubting my abilities?”

“Kinda, yeah.”

“Fuck you, I’ve done this before you know. I’m practically a pro.” She hasn’t and she isn’t.

“We’ll see, I guess.”

“Is that a yes?”

They arrive at Joel’s house and he gestures her inside, which she takes as her answer. Not even trying to mask her excitement, Ellie races past him (Joel follows her much slower) and starts rummaging through his drawers in search for a pair of scissors. She finds one, a bit rusty, but they’ll do the trick. She pulls out a kitchen chair from under the table and makes an inviting gesture at it. 

“Please, have a seat.”

Joel raises an amused eyebrow but complies.

“You ready?” Ellie asks.

“As I’ll ever be,” Joel says, not sounding nearly as excited as Ellie.

No matter. Ellie takes her place behind Joel and stares down at the back of his head.

Now what?

Contrary to what she told Joel, she doesn’t actually know what she’s doing. In fact she’s never done this before. Not that she would ever tell Joel that. Knowing him, he’ll blow the whole thing off and end up with a bun after all, and Ellie can’t ever let that happen.

Here goes nothing. She takes a strand of Joel’s hair between her fingers, positions the scissors and … cuts. Hm, that wasn’t so bad. She takes another strand, cuts again and- oh fuck. That was… that was way too much, holy crap. 

“Everything alright back there?”

“Yep, everything’s fine. I see an improvement already.”

A pause. Then: “You’ve never done this, have you?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” comes a very tired reply from Joel. “Just… make sure there’s some hair left when you’re done.”

“You sure? Because I think being bald is way more practical than-”

“Ellie.”

“Fine, I’ll try my best.”

By the time she’s finished, the floor around Joel’s chair is covered in a worrying amount of greyish-black hair, which Ellie, as subtly as possible, tries to sweep under the table.

“I saw that.”

“No idea what you’re talking about,” Ellie says and is off to the bathroom to fetch a mirror. Personally she doesn’t think Joel looks too bad.

“I look like somebody took a blender to my head.”

“Oh screw you, it’s not that bad,” she says, but can’t help but laugh. She snatches the mirror from Joel’s hand to see him smiling at her. It’s her favourite smile. One that softens his whole face and makes him look ten years younger. Ellie sometimes thinks that smile is just for her.

“I’m messing with you, kiddo. You’re right, you did a pretty good job.”

Joel’s hair looks like before they came to Jackson, just a little more… rumpled. Like he just got out of bed. Only it’s not likely to look any less rumpled after taking a comb to it. But all things considered…

“Not bad for a first haircut, huh.”

“Not bad for a first haircut.”

“Definitely better than a bun.”


End file.
